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You are here:Home / News / News 2023 / Opening of the Regional Chapter of the “Saint Miriam Region”
Thailand - Chiang Mai, Jan 28, 2023

Opening of the Regional Chapter of the “Saint Miriam Region”

23 January - The Saint Miriam Region started the Regional Chapter in the residence of Ban Betharram, Chiang Mai, with a retreat opened by a meditation led by Fr. Paul Pollack, sj, a member of the Jesuit community that runs the Seven Fountains Spirituality Center in Chiang Mai. In his talk, Father Paul, along the lines of a speech by Pope Francis, indicated the four pillars that support religious life: closeness to God, closeness to the superior, closeness to the brothers, closeness to the people of God.

Opening of the Regional Chapter of the “Saint Miriam Region”

A religious is called above all to cultivate the intimacy with God, and from this relationship, he will be able to draw all the strength needed for his ministry. The time for prayer is not negotiable. 

The closeness with the superior, enables us to conquer all temptations to closed-mindedness, self-justification and living our lives as “bachelors”. Instead, this closeness invites us to listen to others, in order to find the way that leads to truth and life.  The superior remains for each religious a bond that helps discern the will of God. Yet we should not forget that the superior himself can be a means for this discernment only if he is himself attentive to the lives of his religious.

The closeness to the brothers can be expressed with an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go with others”. Sometimes it seems that the Church is slow, and that is true. Yet - the Pope Francis says - I like to think of it as the slowness of those who have chosen to walk in fraternity. Also accompanying those who are least, but always in fraternity. 

The fourth pillar: the closeness to the people: “my mission of being in the heart of the people is not a badge I can take off … or just another moment in life. Instead, I am a mission on this earth; that is the reason why I am here in this world. We have to regard ourselves as sealed, even branded, by this mission of bringing light, blessing, enlivening, raising up, healing and freeing”.

The recollection ended with the eucharistic concelebration.

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Nef is the official bulletin of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Betharram.
Nef is edited by the General Council.

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